The Dreamcatcher
by ThatGuyYouKnew
Summary: Things go horribly wrong for Pete. Can he fix this, or is he going to relive the worst moment of his life forever? Continuing from "You Can't Handle the Truth". Est. Pete/Myka.
1. The Stuff of Nightmares

A/N – Here's the first chapter of the next story in the series. If you haven't read it, it's You Can't Handle The Truth, and I highly recommend you do. The information in that story sets up this one, and this story's purpose is to set up the next one.

And don't hate me, I promise this will all make sense in chapter two!

* * *

Chapter 1

Pete ran as fast as he possibly could. He kept going until his legs ached and his lungs were on fire, and then he forced himself to run even more. Around corners and down hallways, left and right through the twisting labyrinth of corridors that this place seemed to be made up of. He had to get to Myka, he was vibing out, _bad_. Something was horribly wrong here and he had to find her, he just didn't know why. Pete was running blindly, not knowing where he was going or how to get there. All he knew was that he _had_ to find Myka, and he had to find her _now_.

Another fork up ahead. Pete skidded to a halt and looked to the right and-

"PETE!" Myka yelled from behind him in the other direction. He whipped around to see Myka running toward him full tilt. He didn't even get a full step towards her before he heard two sharp cracks. Myka's body jerked at the sound, causing her to stumble and pitch forward, crashing into the soft carpeting underfoot and revealing the man with a gun behind her, wearing a long dark coat with a hood thrown over his head, completely obscuring his face.

The unknown man sprinted down a corridor and disappeared from sight, leaving an echoing laugh that would haunt Pete for the rest of his life. Pete ran to Myka lying face down on the plush carpet, dark red stains blossoming from the grisly entry wounds in her back. He ripped off his jacket and wadded it up, pressing it against the wounds to try and staunch the bleeding as he gently rolled her over and cradled her in his arms.

"You're going to be okay, Myka," Pete lied. He knew damn well there was no way he was going to be able to get her out of here, let alone to a hospital, in time. In fact, he wasn't even sure _how_ to get out of this place at all. "Don't worry, everything's going to be fine," he choked out, yet another lie that tasted horribly bitter on his tongue.

Myka's eyes fluttered open and she looked at Pete. "Where were you, Pete**?**" she asked softly, groaning in pain as he pressed harder on the holes in her back. "Why did you let him shoot me**?**" she questioned accusingly. "I thought you loved me**?**"

"I do, Myka," he whispered, tears rolling down his cheeks. "I do love you."

But Myka didn't hear him. She was already gone.

Then Pete's world went black.


	2. Dream a Little Dream

A/N – Sorry about the delay folks. I'll try to update once a week, but things are a bit hectic around here, so if you have to wait a little longer, I'm sorry. Anyway, here's chapter two, and a few questions answered!

* * *

Chapter 2

Myka, Claudia, and Steve had just gotten back to the B&B and were just sitting down for a late lunch of pizza and sodas (water for Myka) in the dining area when they heard a loud thud come from directly above them in Myka's room. Steve and Claudia looked at each other in confusion for a second before Myka said with a slight blush, "Pete probably rolled out of bed again." She stood and started for the stairs as she called over her shoulder, "I'll just go and make sure he didn't hurt himself."

Claudia and Steve smiled and shook their heads. Ever since Myka and Pete got together a few weeks ago they were checking on each other much more often, which was a feat considering how much they looked out for each other before. It was almost as if they just could not stand being apart for more than a few hours, and even that was rare. In fact, today was the first day the two agents saw Myka without Pete for more than three hours, and definitely the first time Myka went somewhere without Pete right there next to her.

"They're still in that 'attached at the hip' stage aren't they," Steve asked Claudia absently. The girl just nodded as they both grabbed a couple slices of pizza and dropped them on their plates. Claudia had been much more interested in Pete and Myka's relationship, pointing out absolutely everything that was new or different. To him it wasn't that much of a change to the way things usually were around the Warehouse, other than the fact that Pete's room went completely unused most of the time.

They had just started eating when they heard Myka calling out for help as loudly as she could, sounding absolutely panicked. Steve was much quicker to respond, half-way to the staircase before Claudia had managed to get away from the table, but she caught up to him quickly. They both bolted up the stairs and into Pete's room, Steve skidding to a halt just inside the doorway and Claudia running into him less than a second later, almost knocking him over. Pete was lying on the ground with his head in Myka's lap, completely unconscious with a bright red mark on one side of his face.

"I can't wake him up," Myka said, sounding absolutely lost. "I tried shaking him, even slapping him, nothing's working."

"I'll call Artie," Claudia said quickly, pulling out her Farnsworth and pushing the button to make the call as she stepped out of the room.

"Let's get him back into the bed," Steve said, walking over and kneeling next to Pete's legs. "We should at least make him comfortable." Myka nodded absently and slid her arms under Pete's upper body as Steve grabbed his lower half. The picked him up with a small groan and set him in the middle of the bed, hoping he wouldn't roll around any more.

Just as they got him settled, Claudia walked back in. "Artie will be here in about ten minutes with some stuff to do some tests," she said quietly, staring at Pete's unresponsive form. "Don't worry Myka, we'll figure this out."

"I hope so," Myka whispered softly, sitting on the bed next to Pete, her eyes never leaving him.

* * *

Pete groaned and sat up, looking around in confusion. He was lying on the floor in a familiar hallway. He tried to remember how he got here, and for a second he came up with nothing. Then he did.

Myka was shot in the back. He held her as she died.

His eyes went wide and he shot to his feet, looking around in a panic. He didn't see her anywhere. In fact, he wasn't even in the same hallway. He had been moved, he just couldn't figure out how without him noticing. He hadn't been knocked out, he didn't have any bruises or bumps on him, and he hadn't been drugged, _that_ he would definitely remember.

He started down the hallway quickly, searching for Myka's killer. He made it about twenty feet when he heard someone shouting from very far away. He stopped and listened intently, trying to judge which direction it was coming from. He heard it again, coming from behind him, so he spun around and started jogging off in that direction instead. The further down the hallway he went, the more he started vibing out, the exact same kind of vibe he had when he was searching for Myka. Usually they all felt different, but just barely, and to have two consecutive vibes that were identical had never happened to him, which freaked him out a little bit more. Pete had made it about half-way down the hall when he heard the shouting again, and he froze.

It was Myka.

He sprinted down the hall and turned, not slowing down in the slightest. He didn't know how, but if there was even the most miniscule chance that she was still alive, he had to get there _now_. As he navigated the corridors, things started looking much more familiar. He had come this way the first time he was searching for Myka. He sped up as much as his body would allow, ignoring the pain in his legs and the fire in his lungs. All those years spent as a Marine were definitely paying off now. He absolutely refused to fail her again this time. He saw the intersection where he stopped before, and this time he didn't slow down and made a hard left, only this time the sight before him forced him to stop in his tracks.

The unknown shooter had Myka hostage, with a gun pressed so hard against her temple that her head was almost sideways. She was trying to get away from him, swinging her elbows back into his body, but it was having no effect whatsoever. She spotted Pete down the hallway and froze, looking at him with absolute terror filling her eyes.

"PETE!' she yelled, her voice wavering with fear, just before her captor pulled the trigger, filling the hallway with a sharp crack.

The man sprinted down an adjoining hallway with that horrid echoing laugh once again, disappearing before Myka's body crumpled to the ground, and once again Pete's world went black.


	3. Face to Face

Sorry about the horribly long delay, I got a little bit in to this chapter and hit a damn solid wall. Hopefully I'm over my writer's block now though. On with the story!

* * *

Chapter 3

Artie walked quickly into the B&B, up the stairs and directly to Myka's room. He overlooked this small fact as the less he was actually told about their personal lives, the more he could deny knowing about. Technically Warehouse agents weren't _supposed_ to date each other, but as far as it being enforced, well... It really wasn't unless it was deemed absolutely necessary, and that was always handled in-house by either the senior agent or the caretaker. And since they were working better together now than they were before, there wasn't really any reason to do anything about it other than look the other way.

Artie walked over to the bed and set his bag down next to Pete. "How long has he been like this," he asked, immediately going into artifact-finding and diagnosis mode.

"He was fine last night," Myka replied quickly. "I didn't realize he wasn't waking up until early this afternoon," she added, looking a bit guilty. She had opted to let him sleep instead of seeing if he wanted to go get pizza with Claudia and Steve. _If only I had just come up to check_, she thought to herself, _we would have known something was wrong sooner_. She knew that in their line of work, delays could cost lives, in this case, maybe Pete's. Myka knew she absolutely couldn't handle losing another partner, let alone another person she loved. If anything happened to Pete, she really would leave for good.

"This isn't your fault Myka," Artie said softly, catching the hint of guilt in her voice. "This could have happened to any one of us." He really was a softie sometimes. Although no one would _ever_ say that to his face. Or at all. Knowing Artie, he'd know about it the second it was said, no matter how far away he was. He was just good like that. Or maybe he had an artifact for that. No one really knew which. "Is there anything new or different in here," Artie asked gently. "Anything at all?"

Myka just shook her head and said, "I don't know." She still hadn't moved from the other side of Pete or even looked away from him.

"Myka," Artie said a bit sternly, "I need you to focus. Look around the room and tell me if there's anything different here. Anything Pete might have come into contact with."

Myka looked around the room carefully, mentally going over everything in the room and where she got it. She didn't notice anything new or out of place at all, which just frustrated her to no end. She sighed and looked up, about to say to Artie she couldn't find anything when something above the bed caught her eye.

It was a dream catcher.

They had just finished an assignment yesterday and were on their way back to the Warehouse and needed a break to stretch their legs. There was a street vendor outside the gas station they stopped at selling various odds and ends and trinkets, among them that dream catcher. Myka had made an offhanded remark about it being pretty, and Pete bought it for her on an impulse.

Pete _would_ be the one to not only find, but buy an artifact on a whim and not even know it.

It was even _more_ like him to be affected by said artifact.

"That," Myka said, staring directly at the dream catcher. "Pete got it for me yesterday on the way back from Wisconsin. We stopped in Minnesota and there was a vendor in the parking lot." Now that she had something to work on, something else to _focus_ on, she sounded a lot more like herself.

Artie was pulling on purple gloves and pulling a static bag out of his coat pocket during her explanation. He pulled the offending item down with a touch more force than necessary, but either no one noticed or they had the sense to not comment on it. He turned his head and dropped it in the bag with a shower of sparks. Every pair of eyes in the room snapped to Pete, expecting him to suddenly be awake.

Except he wasn't.

After a moment Claudia spoke. "Well _that_ would have been too easy," she said a bit snarkily, slightly disappointed, but not at all surprised. "At least knowing what it is, we can figure out what it does." She grabbed the bag from Artie and then grabbed Steve's arm, dragging him off to the Warehouse to do research.

* * *

Waking up in an unrecognizable hallway once again frustrated Pete to no end. He couldn't figure out where he was, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized he had no idea how he and Myka even got here to begin with.

But until he could figure it out, he just had to press on. So with a sigh and slumped shoulders, he headed off for the scream coming from somewhere ahead of him.

Pete made it around the corner just in time to see Myka drop, only this time he didn't stop. He didn't think he could stand sticking around to see her die again knowing this person was going to get away a third time. The chase seemed to last forever, and his body was on the verge of giving out when he rounded another corner to find the shooter just standing there facing him. Pete immediately reached for his gun only to find it wasn't there.

He looked back up at the person wondering how he was going to take him down without getting shot himself. As if reading Pete's mind, the shooter held up the gun, ejected the clip and chambered round with a practiced hand, and dropped them into a nearby vase with a small splash before tossing the weapon carelessly behind him. Then he or she silently beckoned Pete to follow and walked calmly into one of the rooms, leaving the door open for Pete to join.

Pete walked cautiously down the hallway to the now open door and stepped inside. At this point expecting anything.

What he absolutely _didn't_ expect was to come face to face with himself.


	4. Introductions

A/N – Here's the last chapter of this story. I'm actually finding it a bit difficult to give enough information to keep people interested without giving away too much and completely ruining the surprise. Hopefully I walked that fine line well. There will be another story continuing this, and I've been looking forward to writing it since I started this series. Anyway, on to the conclusion of The Dreamcatcher!

* * *

Chapter 4

Pete just stood there in shock. The _last_ thing he expected to see walking into this room was himself, seated in a chair in the middle of the room.

Okay, maybe a dancing talking dog drinking peach schnapps and wearing a neon yellow tutu was _actually_ the last thing he expected, but this was damn close to the bottom of the list.

"What?" Pete said, thoroughly confused at this turn of events, snapping his eyes shut for a second before opening them cautiously. Twice.

Not a hallucination. Also; not good.

The other Pete shook his head and let out a dry chuckle, a muted echo of the laughter that was permanently etched into the real Pete's brain. "You are not insane, Pete," he said condescendingly, almost as if he were talking to a small child. "I would tell you if you were." He cocked his head to the side and thought for a second before adding, "Although I suppose talking to yourself _is_ an indicator of insanity. So you can just call _me_.." He hesitated for a moment before finishing. "Edward."

Pete stood there for a second before he spoke. "Okay, Eddie-"

"Edward." he interrupted, his tone icy, any hint of humor erased completely. After a moment he smiled almost kindly, but Pete could see the touch of psychosis and absolute cruelty in his eyes. It was something he had seen once before in MacPherson and was impossible to hide completely. It was also something he could never forget, as much as he wished he could.

Pete held up his hands in surrender. This was definitely not something to push with _Edward_. "Okay, Edward," he corrected, stressing the name and trying to sound like he was not mocking him. "Can you tell me what's going on here?" Pete asked.

"Yes I can," Edward said quickly. They continued to stare at each other for a moment before Edward sighed with exasperation. "Use your _words_, Petey-boy. You want to know if I _will_, not if I _can_," he said, once again addressing Pete as if he were a small child. A very small and quite slow child.

"_Will_ you tell me what's going on here, then?" Pete asked, trying to keep his temper and sarcasm in check. The last thing he needed was a psycho getting mad at him when he was unarmed. Especially since Pete wasn't sure _what_ Edward was really capable of.

Edward continued to stare at him for a second before standing up and slowly walking over to Pete. He stopped just inside arm's reach and clasped his hands behind his back, leaning forward and whispering, "No." He leaned back and chuckled again before continuing. "I rather enjoy watching you be completely confused. Although it is rather easy to do, it _is_ still thoroughly entertaining," Edward added with a smile. "And I have not had any kind of entertainment in _quite_ a while."

Needless to say, Pete was starting to get frustrated. "Then will you tell me why you killed Myka?" he asked, his words seething with anger.

Edward rocked back on his heels with a look of feigned shock. He shrugged a bit and said, "_I_ did no such thing." He waved his hands, gesturing to himself and said with a smile, "_You_ did." As Pete's hands started shaking with anger, Edward continued his mental assault on Pete. "Your gun, your face, your _fingerprints_." Edward shrugged again and finished, "All the evidence points to _you_ pulling the trigger."

"_Bullshit_," Pete spat. "What the hell is going on here?" he said venomously, his anger quickly turning into a barely controlled rage.

Edward sighed and shook his head, clicking his tongue. "I think we are done here. Such anger is not conducive to a civil conversation." With that he stepped closer to Pete and clapped both his hands on Pete's shoulders like an old friend and whispered with a sadistic smile, "We will be seeing each other again _very_ soon, Petey-boy. You should get your temper in check before then. I will _not_ be so kind next time." With that he planted his hand on Pete's chest and shoved him completely off his feet.

Pete was aware of falling for a split second as he braced himself to crash against the ground that never came up to meet him, and everything went black once more.

* * *

"So we just have to wait for him to wake up?" Myka said, not quite believing it was that easy. It's never been that easy before.

It only took about an hour for Claudia and Steve to find out what the dream catcher did and inform Myka and Artie, who were still sitting with Pete. Myka hadn't moved from the bed next to him, while Artie had taken up residence in the chair at the desk. It bothered him that he wasn't doing research, but Claudia _was_ faster at it, and speed was important here. But that still didn't mean he had to like it.

"Yeah, apparently once the connection is broken, the person it's affecting just has to wake up on their own," Claudia said, her voice drifting out of the Farnsworth. "I mean, you can try waking him up if you want, but I don't know what will happen if you do, so I wouldn't try it."

"And your sure the connection to Pete is broken," Myka triple checked. It never hurt to make absolutely sure.

"Positive," Claudia responded quickly. "It was broken the moment it got a neutralizer bath."

"Thanks Claudia," Myka said with a sigh. "Are you guys on your way back?"

"Yeah, fifteen minutes out," Claudia said over the roar of an engine. "Less if Jinksy here keeps this speed up. Hopefully Pete will be conscious when we get there."

"I hope so," Myka said with a small relieved sigh. "See you guys soon," she added, shutting the Farnsworth with a small click. Now that it was just a waiting game, Myka felt a lot better. Patience was something she had in vast quantities. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, kneading the knots that had developed in her neck over the past few hours with both hands. Stress was something she had become used to dealing with since she started at the Warehouse, but that didn't mean she liked the effects.

"Don't worry Myka," Artie said quietly behind her. "Claudia's damn good at research. If she said it, then the information is accurate." He thought for a moment before adding with a small smile, "But I'll deny it vehemently if you ever tell her I said that."

Myka chuckled quietly and dropped her hands to her lap. She looked at Artie and said with a grin, "Your secret's safe with me."

It was just then when Pete snapped awake with a gasp.

* * *

Claudia and Steve rushed into the room to find Pete sitting up against the headboard, whispering quietly to Myka, holding both her hands tightly in his.

"Hey, Pete!" Claudia exclaimed with a bright smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay I guess," Pete said, a bit quieter than usual. "Not sure I want to sleep for a few days after that though, pretty bad nightmares." He shrugged and changed the subject. "But I am pretty hungry. Why don't we go into town and get some food. I feel like I haven't eaten in days," he said with a smile that Myka noticed didn't quite reach his eyes, but she didn't comment on it.

After a bit of arguing they decided to go get burgers and shakes. Artie had already headed back to the warehouse, deciding to leave the agents alone for a bit. They didn't need a parental figure there during their time off. They had Myka to keep them in line after all. Claudia and Steve headed out ahead of Myka and Pete, bickering about what flavor milkshake was best, while Myka and Pete left the room hand in hand. On their way out, Myka felt Pete stiffen considerably and saw him jerk his head around quickly out of the corner of her eye, looking extremely panicked.

"You okay Pete?" Myka asked softly, eying him with a gentle concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he responded after a second. He looked at her and smiled softly. "Just thought I heard something."

That laughter was going to haunt him for a long time.


End file.
